by admin | Dec 30, 2009 | CIPM, ethics, GIPS, Global Investment Performance Standards, money-weighting, Returns, time-weighting
Calculating rates of return really isn’t that difficult. And while we may debate whether returns should be calculated using money-weighting or time-weighting, such issues pale in comparison with the broader aspect of ethics. I must confess that I initially...
by admin | Dec 29, 2009 | GIPS, Global Investment Performance Standards
When commenting on someone’s writing I often recommend using the active voice. A recent example may help. A client sent us their GIPS(R) Policies & Procedures document to review. It included the following: “there are few industry-accepted standards for...
by admin | Dec 28, 2009 | GIPS, Global Investment Performance Standards, risk, risk-adjusted return, Sharpe ratio, Standard Deviation
Standard deviation is a much misunderstood measure, in spite of its common use. First, is it a risk measure? It depends on who you ask. It’s evident that Nobel Laureate Bill Sharpe considers it to be one, since it serves this purpose in his eponymous...
by admin | Dec 15, 2009 | attribution, GIPS, Global Investment Performance Standards, Returns, risk
One question that occasionally surfaces is how big a performance department should be. There is no simple answer and it’s difficult to decide by simply doing a comparison with other firms. Some key points: all firms are different. Okay, maybe a bit of hyperbole,...
by admin | Dec 11, 2009 | GIPS, Global Investment Performance Standards, Returns
Here, I’m addressing cash flows from a return calculation perspective. First, recall that in two weeks we’ll have a requirement for GIPS(R) compliant firms to revalue portfolios for large cash flows, where the firm decides what “large”...
by admin | Dec 10, 2009 | cash flows, GIPS, Global Investment Performance Standards
Perhaps it’s partly because “significant” and “large” can be viewed synonymously that we find confusion regarding how firms can handle these within GIPS(R). One of our clients was clearly thinking that “significant” means the...
